Episodes

EpisodeFirst
Broadcast
Comments
0120100901Fifty years after they began, what did the sixties mean for Britain? Simon Heffer, born in 1960, is the first of three commentators to examine the social consequences of the decade in which they were born. He discusses its mixed legacy for social mobility. This was a decade whose longest-serving Prime Minister was a grammar school boy. But that same Prime Minister's government also tried to stamp out the grammar school altogether, a policy which Simon Heffer says has had disastrous consequences for social mobility.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Simon Heffer discusses social mobility and the sixties.

Commentators born in 1960 discuss the social consequences of the 1960s

0220100908In the second part of our series where commentators born in 1960 reflect on the social consequences of the 1960s, Cristina Odone discusses sex and the sixties. The arrival of the pill at the start of the decade offered women the chance to truly rebalance relationships in a feminine direction. Could emotions, nurture, commitment and love have taken centre stage instead of empty sexualisation? And if that opportunity was indeed thrown away fifty years ago, might it be about to present itself again?

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Commentators born in 1960 discuss the social consequences of the 1960s

0320100915Concluding our series where commentators born in 1960 reflect on the social consequences of the 1960s, Matthew Taylor discusses freedom and authority. Did the revolutionary idea of human autonomy go too far towards a strident individualism? In knocking down hierarchy, bureaucracy and paternalism, did the opinion formers of a new generation deny or overlook the binds we need to hold us together?

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Matthew Taylor discusses freedom and authority in the sixties.

Commentators born in 1960 discuss the social consequences of the 1960s